Washboard



June 17, 1930.

. E. LEWIS Er AL 1,765,083

WASHBOARD Filed March 15, 1928 Patented .lune 17, 1930r UNITI-:D3 STATES PATENT OFFICE EDWARDE. LEWIS, NICK n'zI'Io, AND JOSEPH J. FER'IITTA, 0F KENNEB, LOUISIANA Y WASHBOARD v ,Application filed March 13, 1928. Serial No. 261,299.

soon worn away so that such a board becomes unlitfor further use. Therefore the invention has as a furtherobject to provide a washboard. the rubbing surface of whichlwill consist of a board proper, of wood, and strands ofjwire extending transversely of the surface l ofthe board and serving the same purpose as VAthe corrugations of a sheet metalboard, the' invention contemplatir'igk so anchoring the ends 'of thewire strands that, in the event of damage ,to any of the strands or a corroding or wearing away of any of the strands, the onesfwhich have become'unit for use 'maybereadily replaced. n

yAno/therV object, of 'the invention is to so mount' the wire strands upon the face vof the board` that there will Ybe noflil'elihood of upwardl i downward displacement'of the lstrands' such as might, 'except for thellmeans provided, by the invention,fta'ke place. i Another object of the invention is to pro- V vde a novel means formounting the soap ledges ofthe board between ythe legs ofthe board and upon thefmopposite, faces of the; vboard propensoas to insure'a'gainstloosen-V ing or vdisplacement offthesempartsfof the 40 board.

'anchored to the rimy of a 'washtubfso' as to prevent slipping or displacement oftheboard while the sameis in use thus ',obviatingg the "necessity ofthe user offthefboard[manually Y, holdingl the same against such, displacement.

,c While theaccompanying,drawings and they description "which'is tofollow, 'constitute a disclosure of the preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be understoodthat various changes may be made within the scope of what is claimed.

In the accompanying drawing:

' Figure l is a view in front elevation of the washboard embodying the invention;

Figure 2 is a side elevation thereof; v

' Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view taken centrally through the board substantially on the line 3-3 of Figure 1 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows;

yFigure 4 is av horizontal sectional `view through the board taken 'substantially on the line 4 4 of F igure l looking in the direction vindicated by the arrows;

Figure 5 is a horizontal sectional i view through the board taken substantially on the line 5'-5 of Figure l looking in the direction indicated by the arrows;v y

Figure 6 is a fragmentary'view in side elevation of a portion of the board, the adjacent leg being removed in order to illustrate more clearly the manner in which the wires are mounted upon the opposite faces of the board.

Generally speaking the washboard embod ing the invention, includes, in its construction the board proper which is indicated in general by the numeral l andthe legs which are indi-V cated in general bythe 'numeral 2 and,rin

Laccordance with the principles of the invention, the vertical edges of the board l' are disposed within ivertical grooves 3 formedY in -the inner faces ofthe said legs 2, lthe grooves in the legsextending downwardly in the inner sidesof the 'legs from the upper ends thereof tora'pointspaced above the lower ends of said ,legs and the grooves being slightly less in length than Vthe height of the board lso that u, l Hthe lowerlcorn'ers of the board rest in thelower Another objectof the invention is to pro- V vide, in combination witha wash board, novel means whereby the same maybe 4securely ends ofthe grooves, and the upper edge lof the board projects slightlyV above the upper ends 'ofthe legs. The numeral 4 indicates the cap' piece" kof the yboard which does `not di'iferlmaterially 'from thel cap piece of the ordinary "wash board except that lit is provided'in-its underside with a longitudinal A ,gro'ove in which theprojecting'upper edge` ofthe-board lis accommodated.y The legs 2 are secured to the vertical edges of the board the board,

1 through the medium of screws or other fastening elements 6 which are of a character to permit of removal of the said legs 2 from under conditions to be presently explained, the cap piece l being likewise secured in any suitable manner in place upon the upper ends of the legs 2 and the upper edge of the boardl. Y

The's'oap'ledges of the boardare indicate-d by the numeral 7 and these ledges"are'j`a'r ranged'one ateach' face oftlieboard 1 vin position suitably spaced below the cap piece 4 so that bars of soap of ordinary size may be disposed upon the ledges and against the respective faces of the board 1l and'supported upon said Vledges when not in actual use. Preferably the board 1 is formed in its opposite faces with transversely extending grooves 8in which the inner edges of the 'soap' ledges are disposed, each leg 2 beingforined inthe sidewalls of its groove S'With notches 9 kand the ends of tlie ledges'f being notched asat 10 to provide rabbets 11 which project into the notches 9, the soap le'dges'being inthis manner securely anchored With respect to the legs'2 and the'board 1' and'held against any displacement.

In order thateach face of the' board 1 may i constitute a roughened rubbing surface, a

i series of rods'extends substantially4 throughvout the entire height of the' face of' thev board plurality'of rods 11 are Vdisposed against eachface of the board,'the rojds which are arranged against one face of the Yboardbeing of greater diameter than the rods which are Varranged' against the other face of the-board.r

The rods of each series arearranged to eX- tend horizontally in equidistantly` spaced relation Withrespect to each other and each against Which'they are disposed, between the lower edge of the board andi the ,respec- V tive soap ledge 7 Each'rod 11 is'fo'rmed throughout its lengthy 'With a'series of oppo- 'sitely directed gradual bends or undul'at'ions indicated bythe numeral 12, andl in or der that the rods may assume a position close to the respective face of the board 1, the 'board' is formed in each of its faces Witha-phi'rality of horizontally arrangedrows of longitudinally l.

and transversely concave recesses or grooves which are indicated'b'y the numeral 13 -andv which are of a contourto snuglyaccomniodate the' inwardly directed bends or undulay' tions of the rods, as clearly Vsh-ovvn in 'Figure 5 ofthe drawing. vrIn order that the rods V'11' may be securely" anchored inkplace upon the faces of the board 1,*the' board is formed in its vertical edgesat each end-of each of the series Vof recesses 13, with notchesllllgand the groove 3 of each leg is formed. in itssi'de Walls at the corresponding intervals,` Withl 'l notches 15,"an'dfas illustrated/in Figures 5 Vand of the drawing, the ends of therods are lturned inwardly at' right angles as at 16'y so asi to engage in the'not'ches 14, with their V*bends iva'rdly' presented bends inthe lrecesses 13,

upward 0r downward springing' ordisplace ment of any of the rods is prevented. `From the foregoing description and an inspection of the drawing it will be evident that Y 'thearrangementof the rods 11 With respect to the faces of the board 1 produces a highly efficient rubbing surface and permits c othing, rubbed over the surfaces of the'boar'd, to be more readily cleansed than is ordinarilypossiblein theuse of'washboardsl of the ordi- `nary construction. It Will also be evident 'that'due to the 'fact' that the rods 11 at one side of the board are -cof greater diameter than the rods at the other side',-o ne side of the board, namely'that side at-Which therods of` largerdianieterare located, maybe employed l 'to best advantage in the'fvvashing ofheavy articles of clothing, Whereas clothing of' finer material may be 'more' efectuall'y cleansed' by "rubbing it o'ver'the other `face of the board at 'which the rods of' smaller diameter yare arranged.

'ifi Order' haette Wash 'board may beleid stationary' with respect to the tubvin Which it Vis disposed, hooks 17 are pivotallymounted at one endjas at 18 one upon each ofthe legs 2 at the'outer side thereofand near the upf 'per end'of-tl'ieleg, and Vthese hooks arey provided each with" a' pair Vo'fbills indicatedby 'the 'numeral 1'9'jso" that the hooks maybe 'swung to extendfrem; one sideor'the other of the board,"depending upon Awhich face'of the board .is being fused VAas the rubbing vface, and corresponding bills of thehoks engage Y iiok the rodsbecoine damagedand req'u-iresreplacement, the removable fastening velements.

for the legs of the board may beremoved'and the right angularly bent ends'of the' rod dis-v engaged from 'the notches'in -the vertical edges lof the boardl and theV rod' thus bodily Having thus "described the invention, what 'proper,"`a`nd"a` plurality of rods'extending Vtransi'fersely of the surface of the board', the

rods having alternately inwardly andout- Wardly presented bends therein 'curved longi` tudinally, the face 'of the board being formedk "With'a plurality of seriesof transversely eX- `tending spaced concave 'l "recesses l therein jspaced-Yfromfeachjother at their-ends and ac-` Vseparated from the board, Wl'iereupon anew i krod maybe substituted therefor. V

commodating the inwardly presented bends of the rods withthe rods continuously in contact with the board but projecting outwardly therefrom for the entire width of the board.

2. A wash board comprising a board proper, the face of the board being Aformed with a plurality of transversely extending series of longitudinally spaced concave recesses, and a plurality of rods extending Y transversely of the said surface of the board and having alternately inwardly and outwardly presented bends therein, the inwardly presented bends of the rods being accommodated Within the said recesses to prevent transverse movement of the rods longitudinally of the board and the said recesses being of a depth less than the circumference of the rods at their said bends whereby the rods project from the board for the full width thereof, the rods being in continuous Contact with the surface of the boards throughout their lengths.

EDWARD E. LEWIS.

NICK D. ZITO.

JOSEPH J. FERTITTA. 

